The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Sean M. Carroll after the Divison of Motor Vehicles moved to recall his vanity plate. [THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / BRIAN AMARAL]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island filed suit Thursday against the Division of Motor Vehicles administrator in a free-speech challenge to the state’s ability to “censor” offensive vanity plates.

The group said Thursday that it was representing a man who wants to keep a vanity plate on his Tesla that says: “FKGAS.” The Tesla relies on electricity for power, rather than gasoline. The plaintiff said when he explained to his daughter that they could charge the car with solar panels, her response was that it was like “fake gas.”

“‘FKGAS’ is my personal statement challenging everyone to look at the world differently,” plaintiff Sean M. Carroll said. “Gas isn’t the only option when it comes to powering your vehicle. My choice for a vanity plate has already brought more attention to alternative fuel sources and electric vehicles.”

The Providence Journal reported last month that the state Division of Motor Vehicles was moving to recall the plate, which can be read as a vulgar dismissal of gasoline, after the newspaper and DMV Administrator Walter R. “Bud” Craddock received an anonymous complaint about it. The DMV cited inappropriate language.

But Carroll, publicly identified for the first time by virtue of the lawsuit Thursday, is not giving up. He said the DMV gave him until Friday to turn in the plate or else his registration would be canceled.

“The DMV twice issued the license plate ‘FKGAS’ to Mr. Carroll and he drove his Tesla for over 5 months with that plate on it making his political statement,” Thomas W. Lyons, an ACLU cooperating attorney who is representing Carroll, said in an emailed statement. “No one complained. Now, after one unknown person complained for some unknown reason, the Defendant has decided the plate is ‘inappropriate and/or offensive.’ This looks like political censorship.”

Carroll explained in the lawsuit that he is outdoorsy and environmentally conscious, and has installed solar panels on his home. He also acknowledged, though, that there were multiple meanings behind the plate, including one that, if fully spelled out, features a four-letter word.

The suit seeks a temporary restraining order barring the DMV from canceling Carroll’s registration, and also asks the court to strike down the state law.

The state law purports to give the DMV the ability to deny plates that “might carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency.” But the suit, filed by Lyons and Rhiannon Huffman, says it’s overly broad, vague and unconstitutional. It “gives the DMV unbridled discretion to infringe on free speech rights,” the suit says.

In an effort to point out the arbitrary nature of denying or accepting certain plates, the suit notes that the state bans from vanity plates “chubby” but not “fatty,” “drunk” but not “tipsy,” and “gun” but not “guns,” and “slob” but not “neat.”

A spokesman for the DMV did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Warwick man whose wife lovingly calls him “the baaastid” has also mulled challenging the DMV’s denial of his plate that would have said BAASTD. bamaral@ providencejournal.com